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EH By 

PH I HE VAH DOLZf M PEASE 

RAWIMGS BY 

LEAMOR MUSSEY YOU MG 






















































































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Copyright , 1934 , by 
Albert Whitman Company 


Lithographed in the U.S.A. 


NEWMAN'RUDOLPH 

CHICAGO 


©Cl A 7 5904 


\ 


OCT ~i 1934 


<3 1 ? 





INTRODUCTION 


“The story has a clever little plot, full of 
humor, and it possesses at once that delightful 
impetus which urges anxious readers ahead to 
Nimbo’s next exploit, and just enough arrested 
action to tantalize them into wondering uncer¬ 
tainty as to its outcome. I was glad (being a 
guide for the young) that after all Nimbo’s deviltry 
—which nevertheless makes delightful reading 
—he got his just deserts and was found out in 
his wickedness. Yes, I really like the little story, 
and think it would be a good one for telling.” 

Flora Emily Hottes, 

Children's Librarian , 

Gilbert M. Simmons Library 
Kenosha, Wisconsin 






Nimbo sat at the door of his hut 



















NE morning Nimbo sat at 
the door of his hut watch¬ 
ing the monkeys swinging 
by their tails in the palm 
trees. He wore no fine Nose Plug 
Ornament in his nose and no 
splendid Alligator Tooth Neck¬ 
lace around his neck. There were 
no beautiful tattoo pictures on his 
arms or his legs or his back or 
his chest, and his girdle cloth was 
made of a miserable rag which 
he had traded for the skin of one 




11 








MBQ 


small snake. In fact, Nimbo was 
poor, very poor indeed. But he 
did have a calabash of honey. He 
knew how well his grandmother 
liked honey. 

“Yes, I will take grandmother 
my calabash of honey!” he said 
to himself. 

Nimbo found his grandmother 
sitting in front of her hut eating 
porridge. 

“Grand¬ 
mother,” he 
said polite¬ 
ly, “I have 
brought you a 
calabash of 
fine honey,” 
and he handed 
it to her with 
a low bow. 



12 




“I will take my grandmother my calabash 
of honey!” 









His grandmother took the 
honey with many thanks and 
poured it into her porridge bowl 
at once, eating every drop as 
Nimbo watched. Much to her 
surprise when Nimbo saw his 
calabash really empty he began 
to weep aloud. 

“Grandmother,” he wailed, “it 
is time for me to go home, and I 
must have my honey! Give me 
back my honey, please, so that I 
can go home!” 

“How can I give you back your 



y£L 



14 








His grandmother ate every drop of honey 





KEIMBO 


honey!” exclaimed his grand¬ 
mother. “I have eaten it with my 
porridge. It is impossible for me 
to give it back to you!” 

Nimbo, however, would not lis¬ 
ten, but only continued to weep 
and wail and plead piteously. 

“This is a great business!” said 
his grandmother to herself. 
“What am I to do in a case like 
this? The boy is plainly going to 
weep forever if something is not 
done about it at once!” 

She was 



unable to 
think of any 
other way 
out of the 
d iffi cu Ity, 
so she was 
obliged to fill 


16 





Nimbo continued to weep and wail 









his calabash with her best yel¬ 
low corn. Before she could quiet 
his cries she had to give Nimbo 
enough for a whole week’s por¬ 
ridge. 

No sooner, however, did Nimbo 
have the calabash of corn in his 
hands, than the honey was for¬ 
gotten, and he started on his way. 
When he reached his hut the hens 
were pecking hungrily about the 
door. 

“How well my hens would like 
this calabash of corn!” thought 



18 






Nimbo saw the corn and started on his way 



















AEIMBO 

he. “Nothing would please them 
more!” 

With that he scattered the corn 
on the ground before them. With 
agreatflappingofwingsand noisy 
squawking they began at once 
to enjoy the treat. Nimbo’s corn 
was soon eaten to the last yel¬ 
low kernel. 

“Oh,” wailed Nimbo when he 
saw what had happened. “My 
corn! My corn! My calabash of 
good yellow corn! Enough for a 
whole week’s porridge! Give me 
back my calabash of corn at 
once!” 

“Impossible!” said the hens. 



20 





Nimbo scattered the corn before them 









“Can you not see that we have 
eaten it to the last kernel? It is 
impossible for us to return it to 
you! How could such a thing be 
accomplished! Not even the 
Magic Man could manage such 
magic! You will have to make up 
your mind to it, Nimbo. Your corn 
is gone forever!” 

Nimbo however continued to 
weep and wail and cry aloud, 
“My corn, my corn, my calabash 
of good yellow corn! My corn, 
my corn, my corn!” and would 
not be comforted. 

When the poor hens saw that 
Nimbo intended to go on crying 



22 















BQ 


forever they were in a great flut¬ 
ter. Hurriedly they gathered to¬ 
gether to decide what could be 
done. 

“One of us must lay him an egg 
in return for his corn,” they final¬ 
ly decided. So the best egg layer 
in the company laid a beautiful 
white egg in Nimbo’s calabash. 

With no more ado Nimbo dried 
his tears and started on his way 
again. As he was crossing a field 
he came upon 
some boys 
playing ball. 

“How badly 
you play!” he 
shouted. 
“What can be 
the trouble? 
Surely there 




24 









Nimbo came upon some boys playing ball 


















must be something wrong with 
your ball.” 

“What could be wrong with our 
ball?” replied the boys. “It is the 
best ball in the village.” 

“But certainly such clever boys 
as you would not play so badly 
if you had a good ball,” contin¬ 
ued Nimbo. “Here, use my egg 
for a ball and see how things go.” 

The boys took the egg which 
Nimbo handed to them and hit 
it very hard with their club, break¬ 
ing it into bits. 



26 




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The egg broke into bits 







“Well,” said Nimbo when he 
saw what had happened, “it is 
time for me to go home. Please 
put my egg in my calabash so 
that I may be on my way.” 

“Your egg is broken to bits,” 
said the boys. “How can we give 
it back to you?” 

At that Nimbo began to weep 
bitterly. “Oh, my egg!” he wailed, 
“my beautiful egg, laid for me by 
the best laying-hen in the village. 
Give me back my egg, please!” 

When the boys saw how ter¬ 
rible was Nimbo’s grief they were 



28 



f 



“Give me back my egg, please!” 










very much frightened. 

“What shall we do now?” they 
said to one another, gathering 
about the broken egg. “Some¬ 
thing must be done, and done 
quickly.” 

“I have some excellent staves 
for fence-making at my hut,” 
said one at last. “I will run and 
get them and we will give some 
to Nimbo in exchange for his egg. 
Perhaps then he will be consoled 
and dry his tears.” 



30 






“Nimbo, take these staves in exchange for 
your egg.” 

















The boy ran quickly to his hut, 
and soon could be seen running 
swiftly back again, bringing the 
staves with him. All the while 
Nimbo cried more and more bit¬ 
terly, until his eyes were swollen 
almost shut and no one would 
have known his face. 

“Nimbo, Nimbo,” called the 
boy as soon as he was within 
hearing, “take these staves in ex¬ 
change for your egg, we beg you. 
Take these fine staves and be 
comforted!” 

Nimbo took the staves and went 
on his way without a word. At 



32 





i 


* 




Nimbo took the staves and went on his way 



































the edge of the jungle he came 
upon some elephants peaceful¬ 
ly feeding. 

“How strong you are!” he ex¬ 
claimed. “You must indeed be the 
strongest beasts in the jungle!” 

“Yes,” said the elephants, “we 
are very strong, certainly.” 

“If you are so strong then,” 
continued Nimbo, “break these 
staves and prove your strength.” 

The elephants took the staves 
and broke them with the greatest 
ease, looking at Nimbo with pride 
and pleasure. 

“Very good,’’-said Nimbo, “very 
good, indeed.You 
are very strong 
and there is no 
doubt of it. And 
now please give 



34 





The elephants broke the staves with the 

greatest ease 







me my staves and I will be on 
my way.” 

“But we have broken your 
staves for a test of our strength!” 
exclaimed the elephants in great 
surprise. “How can we give you 
back your staves, Nimbo, when 
you have seen us break them?” 

Nimbo then began to cry like 
one in agony. “Oh, my staves,” 
he wailed, “my excellent staves. 

Give me back 
my staves!” 

“But you 
s u ggested 
the test your¬ 
self!” said the 
elephants in 
astonishment. 
“We broke 
the staves at 



36 




“But you suggested the test yourself!” 








your own word as a trial of our 
strength!” 

But Nimbo paid no heed to 
these explanations and continued 
to moan and sob. “My staves,” he 
cried, “my staves, give me back 
my staves!” 

The elephants now saw that the 
case was hopeless and that Nim¬ 
bo would surely grieve forever 
for his staves. 

“Well,” said the leader, “it is 
plain that we must give him our 
good sharp knife which we have 
been saving for a time of need.” 

“Yes,” agreed the rest, “we 
must give him our knife in ex¬ 
change for his staves.” 

The leader of the elephants lost 


38 





“We must give him our knife.” 

































no time in carrying out the plan, 
and Nimbo stopped crying the 
moment he took the knife in his 
hands. He then walked away very 
fast, leaving the elephants watch¬ 
ing him from the edge of the jungle. 

Nimbo had gone only a short 
distance when he came upon 
some men under a palm tree 
skinning an ox. They had no 
knives for this hard labor but 
were using sharpened reeds 
from the swamp, and the work 
went very slowly. 










He came upon some men skinning an ox 



























“Throw away those miserable 
reeds,” said Nimbo as he 
watched. “You can’t skin an ox 
properly with such poor tools. 
Toss them back into the swamp 
where they belong, and use my 
good sharp knife.” 

The men were glad enough to 
do as he said, and had the ox 
skinned in no time at all. Then 
laying the knife on the ground at 
their feet they looked at their 
work with pride. This gave Nimbo 
just the chance which he needed, 
and he quickly picked up the knife 
and hid it under a mushroom. 



42 






Nimbo hid the knife under a mushroom 







“Now I must be going on my 
way,” said Nimbo. “I am glad that 
I could help you finish the piece 
of work, and you must call on 
me again when you need me. But 
just give me my knife please, and 
I will be off.” 

The men started at once to 
look for the knife. They searched 
diligently, making a great com¬ 
motion as they did so. Each one 
accused the other of having been 
the last to use it, and the one to 
mislay it. But it could not be found. 

“Where can it be, Nimbo?” 
they exclaimed. “We had it only 



44 




The men started at once to look for the knife 










a moment ago. It is here, cer¬ 
tainly. It is only necessary to pick 
it up from wherever it lies.” 

But still it could not be found for 
all their looking and explaining. 
When Nimbo saw that the men 
could not find the knife, he began 
to cry until it seemed that he 
would cry his eyes out. 

“Give me back my knife,” he 
sobbed. “I beg of you to give me 
back my good sharp knife! I 
loaned it to you out of the kind 
thought I had of helping you skin 
your ox, and now I beg 
jV you to give it back to 

\\ me s ° t^at * ma Y &° 

\ WW ^ ome *° m y porridge!” 
\\A The men continued 
yj to hunt faithfully, but 
the knife could not be 


46 
























flRMBO 

found in its hiding place under 
the mushroom. 

“There is nothing to do but to 
give him the tail of our ox in 
payment,” they said sadly. “His 
knife is gone. He will never cease 
from crying unless we give him 
the ox’s tail in exchange for it, 
for it was surely a good knife, 
and very sharp.” 

When the tail of the ox was 
safely in his hands, Nimbo’s face 



48 






Nimbo’s face shone with smiles 



































shone with smiles, and he quick¬ 
ly walked on his way without a 
backward look. 

A half day Nimbo walked in the 
jungle until he came to a large 
swamp. Here he stopped, and 
looking about him carefully to 
see that no one was watching, he 
planted his ox tail in the ground. 

Just the very tip of it he left 
sticking up out of the mud, and 
then looking about him carefully, 
once more he began to howl with 
all his strength and to leap about 
and tear his hair and wring his 
hands as one in great suffering. 

“Help!” he screamed. “Help! 



50 






■ 



“Help!” he screamed. “Help!” 






























Help! Help! My ox is in the 
swamp! He is sinking! He is sink¬ 
ing in the terrible swamp mud! 
He is sinking so fast that only his 
tail can be seen! Quick! Quick! 
Come and help me pull him out! 
Help! Help! Help!” 

So awful were his cries that 
people began running toward 
him from every direction until he 
and his ox tail were in the center 
of a great crowd. 

“Poor fellow! Poor ox!” every¬ 
one exclaimed in pity. “How ter¬ 
rible!” And with tears of sym¬ 
pathy flowing from their eyes the 
men started at once to pull on 
the ox’s tail with all their might. 


52 




“Poor fellow! Poor ox!” 

























Never had they seen an ox so 
deep in the mud. It was astonish¬ 
ing! 

Pull, pull, pull! Tug, tug, tug! 
One after the other every man 
tried, until finally with a mighty 
jerk up came the tail, but with no 
ox fastened to the other end! 

The men stood speechless with 
horror, unable to believe what 
their eyes told them. What had 
they done? Never had they 
known of so awful a happening, 
and a deep groan came from 
every throat. 

As for Nimbo, he threw him- 



54 

















self upon the ground before 
them. His face was hidden in the 
dust, and his cries were pitiful 
to hear. 

“My ox, my ox,” he wept. “You 
have torn my ox in pieces! What 
shall I do? What shall I do? Oh, 
my ox, my mighty strong ox!” 

Soon every one was weeping 
and wailing in sympathy, but no 
one knew how to pull the rest of 
Nimbo’s ox out of the mud, or to 
put him together again. Finally 



56 




Back he started through the jungle 















one man who had left the scene 
came running back leading by a 
rope a fine strong ox of his own. 

“Nimbo,” he said, “do not 
weep. Here is an ox for you. 
Take this fine strong ox of mine, 
Nimbo, in exchange for yours.” 

Then one by one all the men 
who had tried to pull Nimbo’s ox 
tail out of the mud came running 
to his side with an ox or a cow 
or a goat, or some other animal, 
hoping to heal his broken heart. 

In a very short time Nimbo had 
a hundred head of cattle all his 
own, and the river of tears which 



58 






The people made him chief of the village 






KRMBO 


flowed from his eyes was dried. 

“Goodbye to you all,” he said 
when his herd was safely gath¬ 
ered about him. “I must be hurry¬ 
ing home this minute. I should 
have been there long ago.” 

Back he started through the 
jungle, a half day’s journey, his 
hundred fine cattle 
fol lowi ng him. 
When the people 
of the village saw 
him coming with 
his big herd, they 
gathered around 
him in pride and 
admiration for the 
honor which he 
had brought upon 
himself and upon 
them all. 



60 






The elephants tore down his hut 















They fastened the finest of 
Nose Plug Ornaments in his 
nose. They hung around his neck 
the most magnificent of Alligator 
Tooth Necklaces. They dressed 
him in a gorgeous girdle of red 
cloth. They built him a fine hut 
in the center of the village and 
made him the chief of the tribe. 

But alas! Nimbo had been chief 
only a day when all the grand¬ 
mothers in the village bewitched 






Nimbo ran into the jungle and never came 
back 
























him! None of the hens would lay 
eggs for him! The boys mocked 
him and threw stones at him 
whenever he passed! The ele¬ 
phants came out of the jungle 
and tore down his hut, and the 
men from the land a half day’s 
journey through the jungle made 
terrible war upon his people! 

There was nothing left for 
Nimbo but to run away into the 
jungle and never come back. 





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